This broadcast emanated from the main CBS studio location, 485 Madison Avenue, New York City. The CBS announcer was George Hogan.

The story:

Very little has been written over the years about the important role the CBS network radio show the Saturday Night Swing Club played in making America swing and jazz conscious. CBS inaugurated SNSC on June 13, 1936, and the show ran until mid-1939. At first, it emanated from the intimate confines of CBS Studio One, 485 Madison Avenue in Manhattan. (485 Madison as it appears -more or less- today is shown below at right.) The firstshow aired at 8:30 p.m. The next show aired at 8:00 p.m., and this time continued until October 3, 1936, when it changed to 6:45 p.m. The SNSC was a half hour in length, fast-paced, and packed with music. Sponsors and advertising agencies were not a part of the show because it was presented on a sustaining, that is, unsponsored basis. Therefore, the musical artists presented were chosen simply on the basis of whether they could play or perform well within the swing idiom. Issues of race and gender discrimination did not exist on this show. Consequently, many Afro-American musicians and singers, who otherwise would have found it difficult to appear on network radio, appeared on the Saturday Night Swing Club.

Frequently, at least ten different musical selections were played. The CBS house band on SNSC during this period was conducted by regular CBS conductors, including Leith Stevens, Mark Warnow, Fred Rich, and Johnny Augustine, who alternated in some fashion.

Bunny Berigan’s role in the successful launch of the SNSC was a large one. For the first eight months this show was on the air, Berigan was a featured performer on it almost every week. From June 13, 1936 to February 27, 1937, there were thirty-one SNSC shows, and Berigan (shown above left in 1936), appeared on twenty-eight of them. On one show that he missed (November 7, 1936), he was in Boston working in the musical production The Show Is On. On December 26, 1936, it was announced that he was ill, and he may have been; but he also worked with Tommy Dorsey’s band during Christmas week on one of the few gigs outside of Manhattan that he did with them. On the other date (February 20, 1937), he was on tour with his own new big band. Ultimately, his duties as leader of his band are what took him away from the Swing Club. Berigan’s presence on the SNSC ensured not only that the show would have some top-grade jazz content, but also that other jazz and swing performers would want to also appear on the show, which quickly proved to be a marvelous showcase for their talents.

Here is the story of the genesis and early months of the Saturday Night Swing Club.

In early June of 1936, Bunny Berigan returned again to CBS. Although the White materials are somewhat sketchy regarding this development, to me it is not likely that Berigan returned to CBS with the same duties he had had previously, working as a more or less on-call “pool musician.” The big difference was that now CBS was launching the weekly Saturday Night Swing Club program that at least in the beginning was built around Bunny Berigan. (1)

“On June 13 at 8:00 p.m. over station WABC (flagship station of the CBS radio network), a new and better swing program went on the air. The program is in the capable hands of Paul Douglas as announcer and commentator and Bunny Berigan with his band augmented by CBS staff musicians. The plan is to air the best swing musicians who understand it and who have always been its prophets. Therefore, guest artists are invited to sit in. On June 13 it was Red Norvo. On June 20 the guest was Red Nichols and his Five Pennies and again the program clicked. On June 27 the time was given to the Democratic convention, but for the first Saturday in July more good swing and more good swing artists are promised.” (3)

Here are the recollections of a number of people who were involved with creating and then successfully producing the Saturday Night Swing Club, starting with Phil Cohan, the head of CBS’s program department, and producer of the show:

“The ingredients of the Saturday Night Swing Club included a good house band, couple of good staff arrangers, producers, writers and announcers who are hot fans themselves. Big name guests, two hours of rehearsing, available radio time on a Saturday night. The first shows were not so hot; they needed to have ‘balance’ i.e.: variety. Rehearsals were not called before 4 p.m. which didn’t leave much time to do all things, and not too many hot soloists were in New York City in the summer. Assistant producer Ed Cashman had a lot of radio experience to bring to the show. Hot men were not only willing but eager to play the show for union scale. Frankie Trumbauer flew all the way from Maine to guest. Bob Smith worked on scripts. When Bunny Berigan left, Leith Stevens, a CBS staff conductor, took over.” (4)

Singer Lee Wiley, who was very much a part of the New York jazz scene then, (pictued below at left) recalled: “the Saturday Night Swing Club show was one I dearly loved. Bunny was playing so great at that time. The orchestra consisted mostly of regular studio men at CBS, with the addition of some famous guests each week. Leith Stevens used to conduct the band and Bunny did the playing. Later on (pianist) Walter Gross took over and Ray Scott played the piano.” (5)

Guitarist Frank Worrell had a more detailed recollection:

“I started at CBS in late 1932 after working for about a year with Freddy Martin’s first band and remained as staff guitarist for about eight years. I guess Bunny came in first around 1934 and returned a couple of years later. He really was without fear and would play anything that came into his head. As a result, he probably hit more clams than any of his contemporaries.

If you were to have a meal with him, he would talk very little and usually had to go somewhere right after. We all drank quite a bit and Bunny was no exception, but no worse than the rest of us. But he let it affect his life, indeed it took his life. Sometimes he might be late for a broadcast; sometimes he might not show at all. I vaguely knew about the Lee Wiley affair, but nobody talked about it much. She seemed to be doing very well, but after Bunny she suddenly disappeared back home and out of the limelight.

Bunny never prepared a solo, although many guys did, particularly for radio, even writing out little sketches. If Bunny was in any doubt as to a chord in the tune, he’d check the piano part during a ‘five’ (five minute recess) and when he came to that bar, he would have something ready that was damned nice.

Frank Worrell accompanies singer Doris Kerr on the CBS Saturday Night Swing Club show of March 20, 1937.(*)

One time, Nat Natoli was talking about the days when he and Bunny were playing together with Paul Whiteman. Bunny was making $300 a week, pretty good money for those days, and hating the whole thing. He was always bitching that if he could only get $200 together all at once, he’d leave the damn band and go into business for himself in radio or recording! But he was always in hock to somebody. He owed his paycheck often before he got it! His reputation was pretty bad as far as reliability and maturity went, but from my own experience, you didn’t have to be late very often to get that kind of reputation. And let’s face it, when he did show up, you had a pretty fair trumpet player!” (6)

Drummer Johnny Williams (shown below on the SNSC broadcast of March 20, 1937), father of legendary film composer John Williams, was also there, as was bassist Lou Shoobe:

Williams: “The Saturday Night Swing Club program was really an extension of Bunny’s Blue Boys. We got a terrific amount of mail for the ‘Blue Boys’ shows, especially as they were daytime programs. Anyway, Cohan comes up with the idea of expanding them at a better time, with Bunny taking over as leader. We were all pretty excited. Here was a chance for the jazz guys to do something on the air. But Bunny had to screw it up after the first couple of shows. Would you believe he couldn’t even walk—in the middle of the afternoon! They had to send out for Leith Stevens to come and take over the orchestra and Bunny didn’t stay to finish the show! It was such a shame, because we had real freedom at first on the choice of material, guests, etc. We’d sit down with Bunny and map out our plans for the program. However, despite Bunny’s unreliability, the show was more successful than many commercial programs of the period, which surprised the ‘powers-that-be,’ who had given us Saturday night, which was considered to be a poor night for radio, because everybody went out.” (6) (See below for some facts balancing Johnny Williams’s recollection of Berigan’s “unreliability.”)

Lou Shoobe (shown at left): (7) “I worked with Bunny on the Saturday Night Swing Club program and also on many other shows. The guests on that show included just about everybody with any rating in jazz or popular music. Everybody at CBS liked the show, including conductors, musicians and administrators. Freddy Rich, Leith Stevens, Ray Block and others all wanted to conduct the orchestra on that show.” (8)

While the Saturday Night Swing Club was taking shape, the trade press reported the goings-on at the Club 18 in Manhattan in the wake of Berigan’s departure from its cozy confines: “Bunny Berigan has left the 18 Club. CBS has asked him to come back and lead a swing unit for them. Bunny and his 14 Little Hares swing out regularly on Saturday evenings for that web. At the club Berigan left behind, Red McKenzie is carrying on with Stew Pletcher on trumpet, Herbie Haymer on tenor, Slats Long on clarinet, plus the original Famous Door rhythm section.” “Bunny Berigan has left Club 18, where he played with Red McKenzie, and now has rejoined CBS. On Saturday, June 13, he appeared on WABC’s first swing program at 8.00 p.m., leading his own combination and in future he will be a regular feature on this hour.” (9)

I must comment about the recollections of the musicians cited above, specifically Frank Worrell and Johnny Williams, who both worked with Bunny at CBS over a period of several years. This observation applies to the recollections of others made many years after the occurrence of a given event as well. It seems to me that peoples’ memories often jumble facts after a lengthy period of time separates them from the incidents they are recalling. Memories from 1933 are scrambled with those of 1936, for example, when being recalled in the 1950s, ‘60s, or later. Also, people very often superimpose on their incomplete remembrances after the fact information to “fill out the story.” The result may be an entertaining anecdote, but as history, it is of dubious value, and often outright misleading. I will therefore attempt to balance these anecdotes, as much as possible, with facts from other sources that contain information that was recorded almost contemporaneously with the events under discussion.

Bunny Berigan – 1936 .

Teen-aged swing fan Bob Inman made meticulous notes concerning the first Saturday Night Swing Club broadcast (see note 2 below), but then seemed not to have listened to or made any notes about another Swing Club broadcast until August 1, 1936. From that date until February 27, 1937, when Berigan appeared for the last time on SNSC as a “regular,” Inman attended at least eleven shows within the intimate confines of CBS Studio One, 485 Madison Avenue, and he took detailed notes of these and all the other shows while listening to them over WABC–New York. As noted above, Berigan appeared and played on 28 of the 31 SNSC shows during that period of time, and was employed elsewhere on the three shows he missed.

Given these facts, I do not think much credence should be given to anecdotes recalled long after the fact about Berigan’s “irresponsibility” during this time.A more accurate assessment would be that Bunny Berigan continued to be a workaholic, sometimes working 80 or more hours a week at various times through 1936, but had also become an alcoholic. (There is evidence that this began in 1933-1934.) Nevertheless, through 1936, he almost always showed up where and when he was supposed to and functioned at a very high level as a trumpet virtuoso and inspired jazz performer.

Although there are reports that Bunny was rehearsing a big band and taking it out for occasional dates near New York City, it does not appear that whatever band he was leading in the summer of 1936 occupied a great deal of his time. He continued to make records at ARC as both a sideman and leader through much of 1936. I suspect that at that time, he chose the recording dates he made at ARC more carefully than he had in the past. On June 23, he worked a session as a part of what was billed as “Dick McDonough and His Orchestra,” which really was a small group used to back singer Buddy Clark. He was also present when Billie Holiday made her first records as a leader in the summer of 1936. There is also a possibility that on occasion in the summer of 1936, he worked with Mark Warnow’s “Blue Velvet” orchestra, which broadcast over CBS on Thursday evenings at 9:00. (10) My opinion is that if he worked on any CBS shows other than SNSC, it would have been infrequently if at all. Bunny’s managers were trying to build up his name, and that is best done by carefully managing how and when the name and the talent behind it are used. (Below – Berigan solos at CBS on a Saturday Night Swing Club broadcast – 1936.)

The music:

This performance was designed to basically illustrate the difference between playing a tune, even one as old-fashioned as “Down by the Old Mill Stream,” straight, and then playing jazz on it. Although this may seem rather obvious to us in 2020, we have to remember that this performance took place more than 80 years ago, that much of jazz itself had not yet developed, and that the understanding of the average person listening to the Saturday Night Swing Club about jazz was probably nearly non-existent.

In listening to this performance today, certain things are apparent about Berigan’s playing: His marvelously burnished and resonant trumpet sound is on full display here. His ability to play melodies straight is also well demonstrated. (That was an essential skill for his work at CBS when he was used there as a staff musician in the early 1930s.) What is so quintessentially Beriganesque about his unadorned melody exposition here is that by whatever alchemy, his playing evokes melancholy in the listener.That was a part of his musical persona.

I suspect that his use of the lower register in the melody part of this performance was Bunny’s idea – it would show off not only his uncommon command of his lower register, but it would also set up a contrast to the jazz in the second half of his performance, which is played in higher registers.There is also rhythmic contrast between the first part, which is played at a slow tempo, and with little or no syncopation, and the second part where the tempo moves up, and there is abundant syncopation.The cadenza at the end leads to a sequence that resembles what Berigan would do when he made his iconic Victor recording of “I Can’t Get Started” some eight months later.

***************

“A Formal Night in Harlem”

As a special treat, I am presenting here for the first time a recording that has been lost since late 1936 when it was made – “A Formal Night in Harlem.” This was recorded from the CBS broadcast of the Saturday Night Swing Club on December 5, 1936, and certainly has not been heard publicly since that date. I must thank Karl Pearson, collector of vintage recordings par excellence, for rescuing this unique recording from oblivion, and sharing it with me when he learned that I was preparing a post featuring Bunny Berigan at the Saturday Night Swing Club. I know that you will pardon the hiss and crackle in this recording because it comes from a one-of-a-kind acetate disk that unfortunately was played quite a bit and damaged by whomever “owned” it starting in late 1936. The CBS announcer, whose voice is barely audible in the introduction, is Paul Douglas. The personnel for the CBS house band is similar to that set forth above.

The recordings presented in this post were digitally remastered by Mike Zirpolo. “A Formal Night in Harlem” required a good bit of audio restoration as well.

Notes:

(*) All photos marked with an asterisk were taken on March 20, 1937 at CBS Radio Theater No. 2 – 251 West 45th Street in Manhattan. Here is another photo of Fats Waller and Art(ie) Shaw taken at that same show. Please see the comments of Reinhard Scheer-Hennings below:

(1)There is much excellent Berigan playing on the extant recordings made of the Saturday Night Swing Club broadcasts on which he appeared. Presumably, all of the shows were recorded. Unfortunately, only a few of those recordings have been issued to date.

(3) The American Music Lover: July 1936, cited in the White materials: June 13, 1936. The American Music Lover was a monthly periodical published from 1935–1944 in New York City by Peter Hugh Reed. Reed was the editor, and the AML, which was subtitled “The Record Conoisseur’s Magazine,” consisted of record notes and reviews. After August 1944, it was known as Listener’s Record Guide. Information regarding this publication comes from big band historian Christopher Popa.

(4) Down Beat: April 1938, cited in the White materials: June 13, 1936.

(5) White materials: June 13, 1936.

(6) Ibid.

(7) Lou Shoobe was a bass player who worked at CBS in the 1930s, and became known to the public as a result of his work as the bassist with the Raymond Scott Quintette. He later became a music contractor at CBS and independently, and as such was responsible for hiring musicians for literally thousands of radio and television shows and recording sessions in New York during a career that extended into the 1960s.

(8) White materials: June 13, 1936.

(9) Metronome: July 1936, and Tempo: July 1936; both cited in White materials: June 13, 1936.

19 Comments

As always a great article. The photo showing Fats Waller and Art Shaw does certainly not show Art Shaw. The features do not match. There is another photo of both of them at the 20 March 1937 which clearly has Artie has on it. He wears a different tie. My guess is that the gentleman on your photo is young Paul Douglas. Best Reinhard

I thought I had posted before – so just to be sure: as always a wonderful article. The photo with Fats Waller and Art Shaw does not show the latter. The features do not match. Also Artie wore a different tie that night as evidenced by another photo. The photo Shows Paul Douglas in my opinion.

I have copied the photo Reinhard Scheer-Hennings referred to in his comments above at the top of the “Notes” section. My hope is that the visitors to this post will provide their wisdom on the identity of the man leaning on Fats Waller’s piano.

Locally. WHBC did not have a network affiliation until 1940-41 when they joined the Mutual Broadcasting Network. Do you know which popular music shows may have been broadcast in the war years that may aired on WHBC?

I suspect that WHBC, as a member of the mutual network during the war years, carried many of the “sustaining” broadcasts that then filled the air waves, as well as any Mutual network sponsored shows that existed then. Broadcasts of bands from venues all across the nation, were ubiquitous. Later, as I recall, WHBC became an ABC affiliate.

My memories of WHBC, which was tuned in on the radio my family had in the kitchen of the house we lived in in the 1950s, relate to many things. But swingwise, I vividly recall an afternoon music show hosted by Jim Roberts, that used Ted Heath’s “Faithful Hussar” as its theme. Then there was a 15 minute weekday segment that began at 5:45 p.m. which was devoted to the music of Glenn Miller. It started and ended with “Moonlight Serenade,” which then and now, more than 60 years later, still evokes melancholy in me. (I have yet to do a post on “Moonlight Serenade” at swingandbeyond.com, but it is on my list.)

“Formal Night In Harlem” is an unearthed treasure! It’s a thrill to hear this precious performance from the all-too-brief Berigan career; in a case of a musician of this calibre, every note is of historic importance and value. Of course, I wish he’d been given more space, but in what was allotted, he proclaimed his identity loudly and clearly. Nobody matched his trilling! “Down By The Old Mill Stream,” on which Bunny displays his technical prowess and interpretive brilliance in both the straight and swing segments, was entirely familiar to me, but still a nice reminder and example of the purpose of the now legendary Saturday Night Swing Club. This experimental program had in Bunny just the guy to explain through demonstration just what this new musical trend was all about.

While I find certain portions of the reminiscences about Bunny in this period to be interesting and potentially illuminating with regard to his personality, I agree entirely that blurred and blended memories are of little hard value. I think the quality of his many recordings and the high number of fulfilled commitments in the ’36’-’37 period call into question facile accusations of irresponsibility.

Finally, your word melancholy so aptly describes the feeling that hearing Bunny’s horn arouses. We’re astounded by his virtuosic command, but I think we’re compelled to listen further by that haunting quality in his tone; it touches the soul!

I must continue the discussion concerning the identity of the man leaning on Fats Waller’s piano. A couple of people whose knowledge and judgment I respect have suggested that that man is Paul Douglas, who was sometimes the announcer on the CBS Saturday Night Swing Club. Based on the evidence provided by Bob Inman (see above), Paul Douglas was not the announcer on the March 20, 1937 SNSC, “Melvin” Allen was. (See Swing Era Scrapbook, page 135.) Inman got Allen’s autograph. I doubt that a highly paid announcer like Paul Douglas would have been a spectator on a CBS radio show where he was not working. So I think we can say that the man in question is not Paul Douglas.

The man leaning on Waller’s piano is wearing a dark double breasted suit. Art Shaw (in the other photo of him with Waller, where he holds his clarinet), is wearing a dark double-breasted suit. He parts his hair in exactly the same place as Art Shaw does. Indeed, the man leaning on Waller’s piano combed his hair exactly like Art Shaw’s was combed in the other photo.

Also, the photo of Shaw with his clarinet was taken only a few feet away from Waller’s piano. The photo of the man leaning on Waller’s piano contains many of the same surrounding details, suggesting it was taken only moments after the other photo.

The detail that is seemingly at odds between the two photos is that Shaw is wearing a necktie in the photo of him holding his clarinet which seems to have a pattern of large white dots on a dark background. The man leaning on Waller’s piano is wearing a dark necktie with smaller dots.This is the only noticeable difference between the details of Shaw’s dress and that of the man leaning on the piano. It could be explained as a slight distortion if the dots on Shaw’s tie in the photo where he is holding his clarinet caused by digital photo copying. To make this even more mysterious, in the photo of Shaw and Waller, Fats seems to be wearing a plain dark suit. In the other photo, he is wearing a chalk-striped suit.These differences could possibly be explained as a slight distortions caused by digital photo copying.

Hello Mike, I beg to differ, respectfully. Maybe the man on the photo is not Paul Douglas, but he is certainly not Artie Shaw:1 1) facial features do not match Artie‘s face 2) the hair lines if you look closely do not match, either – also Artie’s haircut that did not show a clear parting as can be seen on the other photo 3) on the photo which shows Artie standing next to Fats Waller he wears a thinly striped suit – the man on the other photo does not wear a thinly striped suit, just a uniform color like Fats 4) the ties are clearly different – just look at the number of spots on each man‘s tie knot in the center of the collar – there is no blur 5) the unidentified man wears in his breast-pocket a handker-chief matching his tie 1:1 – Artie also sported a handker chief in his breast-pocket, but it was white. Clear white.
The search for the truth may go on but in my view the truth is also that Artie is not the man standing next to Fats Waller at the piano.

Reinhard, thanks for keeping this analysis going. Perhaps we are making progress! Your observation about the striped suits proves my assertion that various photos taken at about the same time sometimes show different details. Waller’s suit in the photo where he is standing and bowing appears to be solid. The other photo shows clearly that he was wearing a chalk striped suit. On the other hand, perhaps these two photos were NOT taken only minutes apart. The way the SNSC operated, artists came to the theater around 4:00 p.m., did a quick run-through of the music they were going to play on the show, and then waited for the show to began at 6:45 p.m. The building where the March 20,1937 SNSC originated was a Broadway-style theater, with full dressing rooms. Perhaps the artists were photographed a couple of hours apart, once at rehearsal and then later. That would allow plenty of time for both Waller and the other man to change suits and accessories. Clearly the picture with Shaw was taken at about 7:30 p.m., after the show was over. Perhaps the other one was taken earlier at the rehearsal.

Also, the man leaning on the piano has facial features that look remarkably like those of Artie Shaw – the nose, and especially the lower part of the face. This part of Shaw’s face is where his highly developed clarinet emboucher muscles were. These features appear in many photos of Artie Shaw, for example in the photo of him on the cover of the dust jacket for the 2-LP set RCA Victor LPT-6000. Also, the lines beside the base of Shaw’s nose that ran down to and then below his mouth were quite distinct. This man has all of those Shavian features.

Hello Mike, isn‘t amazing that two people can look at these two photos and see totally different things. We seem to disagree on everything we perceive. One of the reasons maybe that a psychologist is behind all of this, another that we are both attorneys. First of all, Fats Waller wears the same striped suit on both photo. Yes, on the photo in which he bows it is not as clear but if you zoom closer the stripes are there. Also his handkerchief is hanging out the same way as on the other photo. Secondly, you try to explain away the clear differences between the suit, the tie and handkerchief of the „other man“ and Artie by suggesting that Artie changed in between. I do not think so – a good try, but not convincing. Finally, and that is where you and I really disagree (amicably) are the facial looks of the standing next to FW at the piano. He has no similarity with Artie at all. His face always had round and soft features, especially around the jaw – the cover photo of RCA Victor LP-6000 shows this too. The other man‘s face is edgy. Also have a look at the foreheads. The other man has a fleeing forehead – Artie‘s forehead was never a fleeing one but straight. If you follow the hairline on the foreheads they look similar at first glance, at a second it is clear they are not identical. If you follow they are indeed similar, Last but least: the other man’s hands are not Artie‘s. So I still say, no Artie.
All the best
Reinhard

Yes, a stalemate it is! May I suggest, Mike, that you have another look at other photos made of Artie in the mid- and late 1930s? His hair parting is always on the right hand side, never on the left. This only changed after he came from Mexico – then he started parting his hair on the left hand. The gentleman on the photo „in dispute“ has parted his hair on the left. Artie‘s hair on photo „not in dispute“ does not show a parting on the left.

Hi Reinhard. I have seen a number of photos of Artie Shaw from the period around 1937, and in at least some of them, he parted his hair on the left. Please look at the second photo of Shaw I have posted above. It was taken in 1937.

Good shot. This was taken in 1935. And yes, you are right the parting is on the left, but – and that is important – much closer to the middle than in the „photo in question. I think you posted some time ago a „classic“ early 1937 photo. Will send it by e-mail. This is quite fun.

Hi Mike and Reinhard…
I think you both have very valid views/points regarding the picture in question. I guess you can firmly put me in the “I think it’s Artie, but can’t be 100% sure” camp!
I enlarged both pictures (as I’m sure you both have) and studied as many things as I could think of. Everything from the facial shapes (chin, cheeks, etc), hair part, clothes, hands…..have I missed anything?!
I wish you could see Artie’s watch, which you can see in the photo of him bending over the piano, but not where he’s holding his clarinet. It’s clearly a square shaped and what looks to be a gold colored watch. Was Artie known to wear a wedding ring or the ring on his RH pinky during this time period? Looking through my collection of Shaw photos, you both bringing up where he parted his hair made me realize how many different places (if any) he parted his hair over the years! For what it’s worth, I believe the hair parts in the two pictures do indeed match.
Lastly, the cheeks…. The pic. of Artie holding his clarinet has Artie “sporting” the most full looking cheeks I’ve seen, working down to a rather pointed chin….almost caricature looking. While the picture of (whoever it is) leaning over the piano doesn’t show the most pointed chin, the cheeks certainly do match.
If only there was a third picture to compare! Then again, that would probably lead to more inconsistencies and questions!